Served

Glen Chapman

We entered a neighborhood filled with prestige, large, fancy houses. I have never seen Chapman's house although he was a prime member in condemning Raul.

He ran a small "legal" stock brokers company. He has amassed a great deal of wealth and his name frequented the town's newspaper.

Raul most have noticed the profits he could bleed from Chapman's business as he took a great deal of interest in it.

Chapman said he had no choice or Raul was going to end his family's lives, then his.
Raul got a sizeable cut from Chapman's business and Glen got tired of the monthly hand constantly dipping in his profits.
Now Glen was dead and so is the lawyer and the secretary who were looking into the matter, trying to make a sizeable case out of it.

The scene was littered with police cars and dozens of equally wealthy person, dressed in nighties and robes.
Reels of yellow "Do not cross, crime scene" tape was strung around the general vicinity of the house which I assumed was Chapman's.

Riley stopped the car in the middle of the road and jumped out, I followed suit.
Throwing the key to a plainclothes man Riley said "Park it for me."
The officer he threw it to was Patrick Sutherland. A rumour ran through the percipient that he was next in line for a promotion.

Promoting him to detective.
I wondered why he wasn't inside instead of on the outskirts.

Two paramedics stood at the front door shuffling around. They cupped their hands, rubbing and blowing into them.
"About damn time," one said.
"Got that right," the other replied.

We proceeded into a room which I made out to be an office. A large mahogany desk centered the room. I scanned the room for the body but saw none.
Riley then moved over to the table and I trailed.

The bottom of a black shoe faced me. The owner was sprawled on the floor.
Dead.

A large crimson stain had developed on the once white shirt Glen Chapman donned. I couldn't pinpoint the source of the blood flow but I've seen many works by Raul.

He always goes for the heart.

If the shot that pierced Chapman's heart didn't kill him, the loss of blood certainly would.
Not far from Chapman's outstretched hand was a cellphone.
I strapped on a pair of latex gloves and kneeled down. I took up the phone and went on last dialled.
911
Chapman's Salvation. Too bad for him, they came too late.
In the corner of my eye I saw Riley, who was a little distance away, shoved something into his pocket. I only got a glimpse but I saw it was a shiny object.

The bullet?

What's that?" I asked him referring to the item he hid.
Keanu Riley stared at me in a rather perplexing manner, "uh, my badge," he answered.

True, he wasn't wearing his badge but I was not ready to give him the benefit of doubt as his hands were gloveless.

I made a mental note of all this and continued scrolling through the phone.

At 3:43 he received a call from a block number. The call lasted for only 24 seconds.

The call to 911 was at 3:44, Riley called me at 3:56 which meant Chapman died somewhere between the space of ten minutes.

I was making assumptions right off the bat but my gut told me to trust them.

"Who arrived here first?"
The paramedics came in the room mere seconds after I asked that.
"Me."

The words left Riley lips and struck me like a cold winters breeze. I stiffened, my mind went into overtime and I rose from my kneeling position.

At that moment I realized I couldn't trust Keanu Riley more than I could throw him. And I knew that if I tried I wouldn't be able to throw him far.

"He's all yours boys."
The paramedics seemed bored by their job and slouched their way over to the corpse.

As I walked out the room my mind instantly went back to the past when I had a different partner.